


Precipice of Your Heart

by GilgaNyan (NarryEm)



Series: Volleyball!! Gays [32]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - High School, Demon Summoning, M/M, Psychological Horror, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-11-11 10:44:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11146794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NarryEm/pseuds/GilgaNyan
Summary: It’s a legend as old as time, a story that has been passed down through generations.  You go up to the abandoned shrine in the mountain with four used candles.  Place the candles each facing north, east, south and west.  Light the candles in the same order.  Close your eyes and keep them shut as you make a wish.  Say it aloud four times.  Blow out the candles in reverse order.Now.  Open your eyes and see.Take a good look at the demon that you have summoned.





	1. Searching for a Wish that Could Keep Me Walking Forward

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter title from "Akane sasu (glowing red)" by Aimer (ED song for Natsume's Book of Friends season 5. It's beautiful so I wanted to incorporate it)

 

_It’s a legend as old as time, a story that has been passed down through generations._

_Go up to the abandoned shrine in the mountain with four used candles.  Place the candles each facing north, east, south and west.  Light the candles in the same order.  Close your eyes and keep them shut as you make a wish.  Say it aloud four times.  Blow out the candles in reverse order._

_Now.  Open your eyes and see._

_Take a good look at the demon that you have summoned._

_The demon might be sympathetic to humans.  Or ruthless and cruel.  Or clever and conniving._

_Or bring about the end of the world._

_You must choose wisely.  For if you don’t, it won’t be just your life that is at stake._

 

 

“Kenma, are you reading that again?” Kuro asks, snatching up the storybook from Kenma’s hands.

Kenma frowns.  He slaps Kuro on the arm and retakes his book from Kuro.  “It’s a good time killer.  Besides, it’s a dumb folk tale made up by people who wanted their young ‘uns from straying into the woods.”

“Don’t you think that it’s oddly coincidental that there is an ancient, abandoned shrine little ways from our neighbourhood, though?” Kuro persists.

“There are tonnes of abandoned, decrepit shrines everywhere in Japan,” Kenma retorts.  “Don’t you have better things to do?  Like organise our club practice schedule?  I hear that Fukuroudani is itching to have another match with us off the records.”

Kuro waves his hand, smiling like the proverbial cat that got the canary.  “Akaashi will get back to me when he can get Bokuto to give him the go-ahead.  Besides, I would much rather be spending some quality time with my dear, childhood friend.”

“Save that winning smile for someone who will buy it,” Kenma jokes.  The picture book has seen better days, its pages torn and rumpled at the edges and stained with various food stuff.

“I wonder why the artist chose to depict the demon as some lame wispy shadow,” Kenma notes, pointing at the last page.   As Kenma said, the page is filled with a shadowy thing with glowing red eyes.   “They should have drawn some classic oni or a youkai.  Kids don’t like abstract stuff like a vague black figure.”

“Not all kids are like you, Kenma,” Kuro says.  He dives onto the bed and plops into Kenma’s lap.  “We don’t all grow up wondering what the face of the terrible, scary demon looks like.”

“If we go by Christian mythology, a demon has a human body but an animal’s head,” Kenma lists.  “They are likely to have an affinity for fire and sulfur, elements from classic depictions of hell as ruled by Lucifer and occupied by sinners and demons.

“Japanese folklores—as well as Asian cultures in general—have a more diverse cast of demons.  Oni are said to be butt-ugly and carry around iron clubs.  They are also stupid and easy to outsmart.  Youkai on the other hand are clever.  They love tricking humans and messing with us for no reason.  They are like minor deities, in a sense.”

“Wow,” Kuroo wolf-whistles.  “We’ve got a little expert here, haven’t we?  Seriously, Kenma-kun~ I wouldn’t be surprised if you went into historical literature in university to research this stuff.”

Kenma rolls his eyes.  “That sounds like a waste of money and time.  It’s a far better plan to study medicine or law and study folklores and mythology as a hobby.  Besides, why pay money to learn about the supernatural world when you have Google and a sophisticate library at your disposal?”

“That’s true,” Kuro chuckles.  Someone’s cell phone goes off.  It’s not surprising that it’s Kuro’s.  A quick peek tells Kenma that it’s one of Kuro’s lady friends. 

“Got a hot date?” Kenma smirks.  He pats Kuro’s head, smoothing his spiky hair in a vain attempt to tame it.  Kuro has always had this weird habit of sleeping with his head between two pillows that results in this outrageous hairstyle.  It’s beyond Kenma why Kuro has not sought to change that since he looks better with his hair down.

“Yup.  Bokuto hooked us up with a double date at the arcade.  We can make it a triple date since Bokuto has no shortage of volleyball fangirls.”

Kenma wrinkles up his nose.  “No thanks.  I have a hot date myself on _Overwatch_.”

“I’ll never understand your fascination with games,” Kuro shakes his head.  He sits up and ruffles Kenma’s hair.

“I hate getting tired for no reason.  Besides, it helps me strategize during volleyball games.”

“Yeah, yeah.  Well, wish me luck.”

“Good luck,” Kenma says to a halfway shut door.

As soon as Kenma is two hundred percent sure that Kuro is out of his house, Kenma ducks under his bed and pulls out a plastic bag full of candles.  The bag contains a match book, four used candles and an old map of the area of Tokyo that he lives in.  It’s been impossible to burn up the candles since Kuro loves to lounge in his room when they are not playing volleyball.

He feels stupid for even going this far.  Myths are myths, fabrications of the human mind to explain the natural causes that people could not comprehend with their technology, or lack thereof.  And yet, it is exactly as Kuro pointed out.  When coincidences keep occurring, they are no long coincidences but a correlation that is worth a further investigation.

Hence why Kenma is hiking up the hill half a kilometre from his house in the middle of the night.  He’s charged up his phone but the flashlight and the GPS function on his phone is draining his battery faster than he had estimated.

To add insult to injury, the old map and the one Google claims to be recent as of two days ago are not synching up!

“Damn it!” Kenma utters.  He balls up the map in his hands and shoves it into his pocket.  He is tempted to kick the tree in front of him but he doesn’t want to go home with a broken toe.

When he looks up from the tree, he spots a footpath.  Bushes and grass have grown over it so it would have been tough to find even in broad daylight.  Following the footpath, Kenma arrives at what appears to be an old building site.  He has to dig around—more accurately, toe at small rises in the ground—until the traces of a cornerstone and a felled pillar.

It doesn’t take long from that point on to find the shrine.  The wooden structures are weathered and cobwebs and moss cover most of its surface.

“Gross,” Kenma mumbles.  He dusts off until he can find the spot to place the candles.  His hands are trembling as he double-checks the positioning.  He breaks three matches before he succeeds in lighting one up. He is half-afraid that the candles will burn up the shrine but luckily, the flames aren’t large enough to manage that.

He squeezes his eyes shut.  “There is no way that this is going to work.”

He takes a deep breath, and another.  “Please take the Nekoma Boys’ Volleyball Team to the Spring High Nationals. Please take the Nekoma Boys’ Volleyball Team to the Spring High Nationals. Please take the Nekoma Boys’ Volleyball Team to the Spring High Nationals. Please take the Nekoma Boys’ Volleyball Team to the Spring High Nationals.”

Silence falls around Kenma like a curtain.  The cicadas and other critters that have been creating background go silent as if they all dropped dead.  A cold breeze sweeps through the shrine, blowing out the candles.  Kenma holds his breath as he watches the smoke turn blacker and bigger until it takes the form of a small human.

_Take a good look at the demon that you have summoned._

 

The ‘demon’ has vivid orange hair that is apparent even in the new moon’s night and brown eyes that gleam red.  It grins, baring its razor sharp fangs.

“And to what do I owe this pleasure?” it drawls in fluent Japanese. 

“You’re the demon?”

Its grin widens.  “I suppose I am.  You made a wish in this shrine, no?  I’m bound by hideous rules to grant it.  Let’s hear it.  I ain’t got all night and neither do you, kiddo.”

“Says you.  You look like an elementary school-aged kid.”

Flames erupt around the demon, causing Kenma take several steps backwards.  “Sorry, sorry.  I won’t make fun of your appearance again.”

The demon cocks its head.  “You’re an odd one.  Most humans run away when I do that.”

Kenma shrugs.  “I’m curious to see how much of the legend is true.  They say that you are not to be trusted, demon.”

“Neither are the words from a human,” the demon remarks.  “And don’t call me that.  You can call me Shouyou.”

Kenma nods.

“It’s common courtesy to tell me your name, too, y’know,” Shouyou grumbles, pouting.

“I didn’t know that courtesy applied to your kind as well.”

“Feisty.  I like you already, human.”

“It’s Kozume Kenma,” Kenma sighs.  “You’re not gonna put a weird spell on me now that you know my name, are you?”

“That would rude,” Shouyou snorts.  “I would at least take you out for dinner first.”

Kenma snickers.  “Was that a joke?”

Shouyou laughs.  “Perhaps.”

 

_The demon might be sympathetic to humans.  Or ruthless and cruel.  Or clever and conniving._

Right.  Kenma cannot afford to get swept up in Shouyou’s pace.

“Don’t you have a wish you want me to grant?” Shouyou presses.

“Didn’t you hear it when I summoned you?” Kenma counters.

“Sorry, reception ain’t so great down under.  I gotta hear it again in person to grant it.  If I feel like it.”

“I thought you were bound by rules to grant any wishes the human make,” Kenma points out.

“I’m not almighty like the actual gods, Kenma.  I need to hear it first to see if I can make it come true.”

Kenma rolls his eyes.  “Looks like the folktales lied, then.  They make it sound like you’re like a god yourself.”

“Some of us are,” Shouyou says.  He tilts his head sideways again, resembling a crow staring down at its prey.  Kenma can’t shake off the uncanny feeling that he is the prey in his current situation.

“I want my team, the Nekoma Boys’ Volleyball Team, to go to the nationals for Spring High School Tournament.  Please.”

Shouyou bursts out laughing.  Flames dance behind him again, this time accompanied by howling winds. 

“Oh, you’re hilarious,” Shouyou says in between bouts of laughter.  “You’re the first human to have a wish so—pfft!  So _pure_!”

Kenma sighs.  “Can you make it happen?  I want to go home now.”

Shouyou smiles, his fangs glinting.  “Of course I can.  I can make gold and diamonds sprouts from the earth and make a nobody into a king.  Controlling the outcome of a sports game is nothing.”

“Thank you!” Kenma says before he sprints off.

“I didn’t say you can go now,” Shouyou says, cutting off Kenma’s escape route. 

“I made a wish and you accepted it.  Most people would call this a closed deal.”

“This is why I hate humans,” Shouyou mutters.  “It’d be a losing business if I granted wishes out of the goodness of my black little heart.  Nothing’s free in this world, Kenma.  I need something from you in return for my services.”

Kenma gulps.  “What is it?  Don’t be cliché and tell me it’s my soul.”

“I don’t have a nasty habit of collecting souls,” Shouyou replies.  “Tell you what.  I’ll give you an answer soon.  Run along now, nyanko-chan.”

“Nyanko-chan?” Kenma repeats.

“You go to Nekoma.  Go figure.”  Shouyou waves his hand as if to shoo Kenma away.  “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a human world to explore.  I wanna see how much has changed since a hundred and seventy-two years ago.”

 

_Or it can bring about the end of the world._

 

Kenma sighs.  Just what has he unleashed in the middle of Tokyo?

 


	2. I Rose Up from the Dead, I do it All The Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from "Look What You Made Me Do" by Taylor Swift
> 
> it's gonna take me a while to recover from this lol.  
>  ~~somehow I'm getting Pussycat Dolls vibes from the song~~

 

 

Being immortal and all, Shouyou has had his fair share of bizarre adventures and mishaps.  Ninety-nine percent of those happenings can be blamed on the human’s greed, for the humans can never be satisfied with one tiny wish that could have kept them content for the rest of their lives.  No; they have to keep asking for more and more of Shouyou until they have drowned in their lust of gold and fame and draw the final breath, finally realising their fatal mistake.

In-between his ‘jobs’, Shouyou is trapped in the nether realms.  As the lore goes, the realm was created between the borders of the land of the living and the dead and the heavenly, effectively barring creatures of Shouyou’s origins to entre any other realms unless a special circumstance has been provided.

Wishes are powerful.  The wishes of an innocent human soul can be even more morbid depending on the intent.  Kenma is too—how should Shouyou put it—unguarded about the whole ordeal.  He scarcely glances at the literal demon that he has summoned as he finds his way back home.

“So you really don’t remember, huh?” Shouyou murmurs.

“You say somethin’?” Kenma asks, finally looking at Shouyou.  Even in the dim light courtesy of the massive cloud covering up the moon, his golden brown eyes shine with curiosity.

“Nothing of importance.  So you play volleyball?  Is that a sport?  I guess the world of sports has really diversified since I was last released into the world.  You wished to win the tournament, yeah?”

Kenma stops in his tracks, which causes Shouyou to crash his face into Kenma’s back.  It’s a good thing that the human boy was wearing a fluffy sweater.  Even though Shouyou is a demon, he can still feel pain and such.

“I’ve been wondering for a while,” Kenma questions, his eyes narrowing akin to a cat’s, “why do you speak with a Miyagi dialect?”

Shouyou shrugs.  “The last time I was summoned it was by some country hick in the backwoods town in Miyagi.  I made sure to spend as long as possible out in the human realm so that must be why.”

“Hmph,” is all he gets from Kenma.

Several more minutes pass in silence apart from the bugs and bird calls and their own footsteps before Kenma stops again.  This time, Shouyou avoids slamming his nose into Kenma’s shoulder blade.

“What is it this time?” Shouyou whines.  “Let’s get going. It’s been forever since I slept on a proper bed~”

Kenma whirls on his toes to glare at Shouyou.  “First off, I didn’t say that you could sleep in my bed. Secondly, I think we’re lost.”

Of course.  It’s just Shouyou’s luck that he can’t bag himself a human who can navigate himself through the woods at night.

“Don’t you live around here?” Shouyou asks.

“No one ventures into the woods.  It’s thanks to you that people think this place is haunted.”

Shouyou smirks, making a point to flash his fangs at Kenma.  He has to give the human credit for not flinching outwardly.

“Alright,” Shouyou props his hands on his hips. “Visualise your home.  Imagine that you are in your bed.”

Kenma frowns.  “How’s that gonna help us right now?”

“I’m gonna use this little thing called magic to take us home.  It’s the same principle behind how you summoned me from the other world.”  Well, that and a couple gory details ensued but Kenma doesn’t have to know that.  At least, not yet.

In the blink of an eye, they are standing in the middle of Kenma’s bedroom.

“You know, you should take me out to dinner first,” Shouyou jests, winking at Kenma.

“Gross,” Kenma retorts, taking off his sweater and the shoes, revealing a worn-in t-shirt and trousers made of soft material underneath.  “As if I would date a demon.”

Shouyou cocks his head.  “So you don’t mind that I’ am male?”

Kenma’s cheeks mottle with pink and red.  “That’s none of your business.  Go to sleep or whatever, just not on my bed, ‘kay?”

“Okie.  Good night then.”

Shouyou squints up at the source of light in the room. After spending the last century or so cooped up in the darkest shadows of his own world, the unnatural light of today’s technology sears into Shouyou’s eye sockets.

“What are those things?” Shouyou mutters, shielding his eyes from the blinding, stark white lamps.

“Fluorescent lights.  They are not what you’re used to, eh?” Kenma asks.

“Nope.  I suppose humans are good for some things after all.”

Kenma sighs.  He throws his closet open and tugs at the corner of what Shouyou assumes to be a set of bedding.  Whilst it is amusing to watch Kenma struggle with his task, Shouyou wants to sleep in a proper bed as he mentioned.  He swirls his forefinger, causing the pile to fall flat on Kenma.

“That was not necessary,” Kenma pouts.  He chucks the pile at Shouyou’s face in retaliation.  “You can take care that yourself, I assume.”

Shouyou grins as the futon and blanket arranges itself on the floor.  “Yup.”  The light blinks out.

“I was gonna—haa never mind.”

Silence falls over them alongside the darkness.  Unlike the Miyagi town Shouyou was in, the outside of the house is still bright with these fluorescent lights.  Kenma must be used to it since he falls asleep in mere minutes, snoring lightly.

Shouyou kneels on the side of the bed and watches the fall and rise of Kenma’s thin chest.  He has curled up on his left side, arms and legs drawn in.  Kenma’s sleeping posture is reminiscent of a newborn kitten somehow.

 

 

_“C’mon, Kenma.  Where’s yer sense of adventure?” Shouyou taunts._

_Kenma doesn’t fall for it, as per usual.  He is too preoccupied with his pretty little book, a name-day present from his father._

_“One of these days, you_ are _going to fall from a branch,” Kenma retorts.  He flips the page with elegance that Shouyou can never dream of mimicking.  “And I will be there to say ‘I told you so, Shouyou.’”_

_Shouyou sticks his tongue out.  He plucks a tiny branch of cherry blossoms and leaps down.  He strides over to where Kenma is sat and lies down with his head in Kenma’s lap._

_“You’re blocking out the text,” Kenma points out._

_“I am.”_

_The corner of Kenma’s mouth twitches up.  “You’re the worst, Shouyou.”_

_“That I am.”_

_Kenma lets Shouyou pulls his neck down for a chaste peck on the corner of his lips.  Shouyou tires of the corner and slides his lips to lock them with Kenma’s.  Kenma is weak to kisses, as Shouyou has learnt in the years that they have been friends and lovers.  His body appears to melt away under caresses and kisses scattered all over his body._

_“Shouyou, stop,” Kenma giggles as Shouyou’s fingers tease the hem of Kenma’s kimono.  “We are outside.”_

_“Yer house is in the middle o’ a forest,” Shouyou points out.  “Perks of bein’ a fancy nobleman, huh?”_

_“You know full well that I did not ask for any of this,” Kenma says._

_Shouyou lifts up his arm so that he can brush a lock of hair from Kenma’s forehead.  “Shall we head inside then, sire?”_

_“Quit it,” Kenma murmurs.  The rising heat in his cheeks tell a different story.  “The sun is still out and we haven’t even supped yet, Shouyou.”_

_“If ya say one more word about me lack of manners, I might just attack ya here and now,” Shouyou smirks._

_“Don’t say that as though you haven’t done it already,” Kenma remarks._

_Nonetheless, Kenma pushes Shouyou off his lap and stands up, one arm outstretched towards Shouyou.  “Shall we?”_

“Wakey, wakey,” a voice jolts Shouyou out of his dream.  How could Shouyou forget a crucial detail: he can dream in this mortal world.  His dreams mostly comprise of old memories in their entirety or full of falsehood.  He shakes his head as if that will help clear his head.

“Do you need anything?” Kenma asks.  He is wearing another odd outfit.  Shouyou can guess that the state of fashion has changed since his last outing.

“Can you explain the garbs and such that you wear these days?”

Kenma chuckles.  “Who even says ‘garbs’ nowadays?”

Shouyou pulls an offended expression.  “I do!  Mind you, I am centuries older than you, puny human.”

“Yeah, yeah.  And adaptation is how humans survived past the ice age.  Here.”

Kenma rummages through a piece of wooden furniture and throws a top and trousers.  The shirt lacks _obi_ or buttons, while the trousers come equipped with a strange device.

“I don’t know how the trousers go on,” Shouyou admits.

Kenma’s face lights up a bright scarlet shade.  “Don’t tell me I gotta dress you like a baby,” he mutters.

He heaves a heavy sigh and walks over to Shouyou.  He kneels in front of Shouyou and taps at his calves.  Shouyou steps inside the legs of the trousers and lets Kenma shimmy the trousers up.  It is a rather odd feeling, having the metallic device glide up so close to his crotch as the metal teeth interlock and close.

“These are jeans,” Kenma explains.  “And they have either a zip and button or zip and clasp.  The zipper makes you life a hundred times easy.  You don’t have to worry about the drawstring falling or anything.  As for the t-shirt, well, you just throw it on, no fuss.  I have to go to school so please be a good boy and stay home?”

Shouyou smirks.  “I don’t have to.  I can change forms.  Can I tag along?  I solemnly swear that I will behave.”

“How do you plan on doing that?” Kenma asks.

Shouyou closes his eyes and concentrates.  He can tell by Kenma’s sharp gasp and the feeling of weightlessness that he has succeeded.  He doesn’t fancy the crow’s form but it is the least conspicuous even in a city.

“You’re kinda cute, who would have guessed it,” Kenma comments.  He slings his bag over his shoulder and heads out, leaving the door open for Shouyou to come through.

Well, this should be interesting, to say the least.d schools of though you humans worship.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Bokuto and Akaashi will make their appearnce . . .. eventually . .. .
> 
>  
> 
> comments really motivate me to continue on ;3


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